muffin

Cranberry Orange Muffins

December 2, 2016

Move over pumpkin and pecans, it’s time to give cranberries their fifteen minutes of fame. You know me and how I get on kicks. Well, the next kick I’m going on is a cranberry kick. I’ve got big plans for everything from cranberry orange muffins, to sugared cranberries, to cranberry curd.

But first things first. These cranberry orange muffins. To be honest, I didn’t quite know if I would like the dried cranberries in the muffin. While they work great in a flaky scone or a crumbly cookie, would they work in a soft muffin?

Yes. Yes they do.

(But fresh cranberries would probably work well in this, too!)

So I have made a lot of muffins around these parts, so I won’t bore you with the basics. But I will share one quick tip I use to measure my liquid ingredients. In a lot of muffin or quick bread recipes, I am mixing together a true liquid (like milk) and a semi-solid (like sour cream or yogurt). Well, call me lazy but I don’t want to have to clean another measure cup. What I do instead is pour liquid in to a liquid measuring up like you see above. Then I spoon in the yogurt or sour cream (or peanut butter, etc.) until the liquid is offset by the right amount.

Make sense?

Ok, say I want to measure 1/2 cup milk and 1/4 cup sour cream. I pour 1/2 cup milk into the measuring cup, then I spoon in sour cream until the milk level rises to 3/4 cup (1/2 + 1/4 cup).

After that, I add in the rest of my wet ingredients that don’t require such sophisticated measuring, like the eggs and butter.

For these particular muffins, and any muffin to which I add zest, I mixed the zest in with the dry ingredients to that it becomes evenly dispersed throughout the batter. Then I pour in the wet ingredients and give it a few (emphasis on a few) good stirs. To much mixing and the muffins will be chewy, not soft.

Another fun trick I use (Man, this post is just full of them, isn’t it?), is to portion out the batter into the individual tins using a ice cream scoop. Not only is it the perfect amount for 12 muffins, but it’s just so much easier and quicker to use.

Once they are out of the oven, I head straight for the muffin top. I know it’s a cliche, but the muffin top is truly the best. I like to add a little bit of sugar to the tops of these muffins so that the top has a nice crust, but is still really soft inside.

The combination of the orange and cranberry makes these muffins taste so fresh. The muffin itself is light and airy, so would make a great addition to a holiday breakfast to balance out all those other heavy foods we eat this time of the year. But, thanks to those dried cranberries, this muffin can be enjoyed year round, not just this Winter!

PIN NOW, MAKE LATER

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:102]

Glazed Gingerbread Donuts

November 28, 2016

Before we left to visit family in Texas for Thanksgiving, I decided I needed to put up my Christmas tree and get our house ready for the holidays. I pulled out all of the Christmas decorations that we had acquired over the years and unpacked it all (to see what I had to work with). It was like Christmas had thrown up in our living room. Which for me, was lots of fun. Not so much for my husband.

To fuel my Christmas decorating bender, I thought it would be appropriate to have a Christmas-themed breakfast. There are lots of things that remind me of Christmas, but maybe none more than gingerbread! My first thought was gingerbread pancakes (been there, done that). Then I thought: Gingerbread Donuts!

The gingerbread baking in the oven filled our kitchen with so many wonderful holiday scents – brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and clove. It smelled heavenly!

To make the gingerbread batter, I mixed together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. Separately, I whisked together the milk, butter, molasses, and egg. Then I mixed the two together to make a light and fluffy batter.

I use a big zip-top bag to pipe the batter into the donut tin. I tend to overfill my donut tin, forgetting that the donuts will puff up and rise in the oven. Next time I will remind myself to only fill up the tin three-quarters of the way.

They don’t take very long to bake, but I used that down time to whip up the vanilla glaze. The glaze is pretty simple to make: whisk together milk, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla. I added just enough milk until the glaze was the right consistency.

I kept my glaze rather thick, mainly for the photos. But when I make these again, I will make my glaze thinner. I want the gingerbread to be the star of the show. If you make these at home, you could even skip the glaze completely and dust the donuts with confectioners’ sugar.

Any way this gingerbread donut is dressed (I tried the donuts plain, with confectioners’ sugar, and glaze….it’s a tough job, folks), it’s delicious. Light, yet moist and oh so flavorful. It is the perfect compliment to a cup of holiday spice coffee. Also the perfect start to a day of holiday decorating!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:100]

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin

April 19, 2016

It’s been a while since I have made muffins, hasn’t it? I used to make muffins all. the. time (ex. here, here, and here). It took a special occasion to get me back to muffin making. One of my coworkers and friends had a birthday last week. Her and I did the Whole 30 challenge together the first time, and started our second round together on Monday. Since she was about to give up all the wonderful food groups, like gluten, chocolate, and sugar, I wanted to make her something that packed all of them into one convenient package! Thus was born the peanut butter chocolate chip muffin!

While this recipe is very similar to my basic muffin batter recipe, I did add in one critical ingredient: peanut butter powder. My original plan was to mix in classic peanut butter, but when I was perusing the grocery store aisle I came across this powder. I figured that this would actually be so much easier to incorporate into the muffin batter and wouldn’t add as much fat. But, since it is peanut butter chocolate chip muffin, I did add in a swirl of peanut butter which add just the right amount of peanut butter creaminess throughout the muffin.

And for an extra punch of peanut butter goodness (because who can get enough peanut butter?), I mixed together a strussel topping using some of the pb powder. I think it was the topping that made the muffin. I mean, the top of the muffin is the best part anyways; it’s crunchy on top and flaky on the bottom. But this just put it over the edge and gave it even more peanut flavor to balance the semi-sweet chocolate chips peppered throughout the muffin.

So really, when you think about it, this muffin is pretty much a cupcake without the frosting. But what is wrong with cake for breakfast? Especially on your birthday!

Nothing. Nothing is wrong with that.

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:21]

Spinach and Cheese Egg Muffins

December 30, 2015

Egg-Muffin-1

Over the past few months I have been trying to ween myself off of Greek yogurt or smoothies for breakfast and eat more the protein-packed eggs. This is partially in preparation for the Whole 30 Challenge that I am going to attempt again at the beginning of the year. The last time I tried the Whole 30 Challenge, breakfast was my hardest meal because I couldn’t eat anything I normally would: yogurt, toast, cereal, granola, etc. But I am also not a big egg eater. Especially on week days, eggs can take too long to prepare, and by the time I get to work and eat them, they are cold and soggy.

So in come the egg muffins! They can be made in advance and just heated up in the microwave when you are ready to eat. This particular version has spinach and cheese mixed in with the eggs. But once I start the Whole 30 Challenge, the cheese will have to go.

Spinach and Cheese Egg Muffin

To make the muffins, I started with 12 eggs. I use 3 whole eggs, and 9 egg whites to reduce some of the fat and cholesterol. But you can use all 12 egg yolks and whites (you just might make more muffins). I then mix in about a cup of thawed and drained frozen spinach, 3 tbsp of shredded cheese, and salt and pepper.

Egg-Muffin-2

The only take 20 minutes to bake, and once they are done I just let them cool to room temperature before storing them in the fridge. Then, in the morning before work, I pack 2 or 3 to go and heat them up at the office. They are just like little, portable, fritatas.

Once the Whole 30 Challenge does start, I will make these muffins with ham, bacon, peppers, onions, tomatoes. I am hoping to mix it up enough that I don’t get sick of eating eggs for 30 days straight.

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Chocolate Chip Whole Wheat Muffins

November 2, 2015

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a muffin recipe, hasn’t it? I was all about muffins back in the day. It is definitely one of my favorite breakfast food items to make because you get so much bang for your buck. Make one easy batter, fill it with what you want, and you end up with a dozen delicious muffins. Whenever I have to bring a breakfast food for a large group, I make muffins.

Which is exactly how these came about! For Sunday School this past week, I volunteered to bring breakfast. I wanted something crowd-pleasing, but also a bit healthy. So I balanced the chocolate chips with whole wheat and bran flour in the muffin. Life is all about balance, right?

I started with my basic muffin batter. I replaced some of the all purpose flour with whole wheat, and added in a touch of bran. Just a touch, because bran flour can throw off the texture of these whole wheat muffins. But for some extra crunch on top, I mixed together a little strussel topping with bran flour, sugar, and butter. I crumbled that on top and let it bake until golden brown.

These definitely have a bit of a bran, whole wheat flavor. But the chocolate chips add enough sweetness to make you forget you are eating something mildly healthy. If you don’t like the flavor of whole wheat, just reduce the amount by half and replace with AP flour. It will be diluted enough that you will barely taste it, but still get some of the benefit of the whole wheat.

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Mini Protein Blueberry Muffins

September 4, 2014

I have made more than a few muffin recipes. Okay ten. Not including this one.

I like muffins, okay?! They can as healthy or as unhealthy as you want. They are fairly fool proof. And who doesn’t like a good muffin. Definitely a crowd pleaser, which means they are great to take into work or to your friend who just became a new mom. Which is who these muffins were made for.

A friend of mine ended up having her baby this past weekend (Labor Day weekend, how fitting), so I wanted to make her something healthy, yummy, and no-fuss to eat this week since she will have her hands full!

I won’t go into the muffin basics, since I have done that plenty of times in other posts. But one trick I wanted to share with you, was to toss your berries in flour before mixing them into the batter.

Doing that will ensure that they don’t sink to the bottom of the muffin tin. Nothing is worse than getting a muffin and all the berries are all stuck to the bottom.

This recipe is a bit different than my basic muffin batter in that I added protein powder to it and used even more Greek yogurt to bump up that protein factor. I also used substituted half the flour for whole wheat flour.

I have never had a baby or been a mom, so I can’t tell you what to eat after giving birth. But I would think that a new mom would want to be eating healthy, and if they are breastfeeding, they need to keep their energy up. I think these muffins will be perfect for my friend, since she can just nibble on one of these minis whenever she has a hand free.

What other food items or meals would be great to make for a new-mom?

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Apple Streusel Muffins

March 21, 2014

For those of you who happened to follow my old blog (hi, Mom!), you may remember this recipe. For some reason is has been one of my more popular recipes on Pinterest so it made a good candidate for my “test” blog post.

I made these muffins after a trip up to the mountains near Charlotte this past Fall. We had so many apples I need to find creative ways to use them all. They turned out wonderfully. So much so, I will probably make this a Fall staple.

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A Bushel and a Peck and a Recipe

October 21, 2013

This past weekend, with no wedding planning to do, I wanted to get out of town and do something B and I have never done before: apple picking!

I had no idea what to expect. Like, how long it would take, how much it would cost, how much effort I would have to put into actually picking apples, etc. And not that I didn’t think it would be fun (it was my idea after all), but B and I just had such a fun time walking through the orchards, picking apples, taking pictures, drinking cider…the whole bit. It definitely helped that the scenery was gorgeous!

The result of all that fun was about 15 pounds of apples! I have no idea what to do with all those apples. There is only so much cider and apple pie you can make.

Well, I did get busy making muffins (of course) with some of my many many apples. Unfortunately, that only used 3 apples. So I have about 40 more apples to use up before they go bad.

Can you recommend anything else I should make with all my apples? If you have any good recipes, send them my way!

P.S. Do you notice anything different around here?? I have a new design by the lovely and talented Sarah of A Smitten Design! I absolutely love it and would recommend Sarah to anyone looking to spice up their blog design!

Chai Spiced Pumpkin White Chocolate Muffins

October 16, 2013

I have noticed recently that my pumpkin muffin recipe that I posted last year has been getting some renewed interest on Pinterest. So I thought I would update and jazz up my pumpkin muffin for this Fall with a few extra spices and some white chocolate chips.

I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin spiced things (which I have mentioned here before). But ironically, I LOVE chai spice, which is really pumpkin spice with a few extra spices – cardamom and all spice. The chai spice isn’t overwhelming and definitely compliments the pumpkin flavor.

One reason I love using pumpkin in baked goods, despite my aversion to pumpkin spice, is because it helps make things a wee bit healthier. The pumpkin adds a lot of moisture without having to add any oil or butter (like I use in my other muffin recipes). I also used almond milk and Greek yogurt (a staple in my standard muffin recipe), which also eliminates any additional fat. Of course, you could make these even healthier by eliminating the chocolate chips, but if you do so, I would suggest adding 1/4 cup extra sugar to the batter, as the batter itself is not overly sweet.

The muffins are perfectly moist and delicious, with just the right amount of spice and flavor!

Quinoa Blueberry Muffins

April 22, 2013

THIS RECIPE HAS BEEN UPDATED!! Click here to see the updated version of the recipe.

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I’ve been on this weird kick of trying to make different breakfast foods using quinoa. First pancakes, now muffins. I have to say, after making Gordon Ramsay’s uber healthy blueberry muffins, I think I kinda like these better. It could just be that I am not a huge fan of banana, which GR’s version has. But these muffins are light and fresh tasting, and frankly, don’t taste so…..healthy!

But these muffins are just as healthy, if not healthier. There is no butter or oil. Very little sugar. Quinoa is incredibly healthy and packed with protein. I have found that quinoa, after it’s cooked, can be used almost interchangeably with flour or oats. So don’t be surprised if you find me making more recipes with quinoa!

I hope you give these muffins a try!

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